blog #5

Good morning, boker tov, bonjour, guten morgen, bom dia, buenos dias, god morn. Apologies one and all from your busy blogist for the lack of quotidian goings-on; we’ve had a bumpy old few days with a swell left from the gales crossing with a new wind driven on at 30’ difference; when the two coincided with the port bow, we soaked the boat and Michael’s bunk as well, reducing him to snuggling into the corner usually occupied by Debbie [when she condescends to sleep aft]. After too much wind and trying to slow ourselves down with just a tripled reefed jib up for two days, and then having no wind and motoring all night, boring and slow, the wind at 5am this morning of May 3rd was a steady 13 knots from the South West, so after admiring a beautiful sunrise, we set the spinnaker and are now cruising along a 8 to 9 knots accompanied for half an hour by a pod of maybe 30 Atlantic Spotted Dolphins playing in our bow wave.
In fact this is the third large pod we have had come and play with us [or maybe the same one returning for more fun] so will be able to post a photo or two when we dock in Horta, now 659 miles away as of 11.36 UK time. The ships library offers answers to the most important questions like: “Do dolphins ever sleep” – the answer is “yes” -off course-... about 8 hours a day with one eye opened and the other eye closed. Try it – it’s fun..... About sleep: we are kind of used to divide the night into sections 19/23, 23/03 and 03/07 or, if you prefer, 21/01, 01/05/, 05/09 –sadly for the rest of the world, once on shore, this habit will keep on for minimum one year...
More about habits: it is a pure joy to see three elderly men and a youngster couple filling up their water bottles with water (not surprising) and a shot of juice (yes Michael we will just use a tiny bit of juice...). Guess if this may change once arriving at the Azores??
You question is what we do all day? Well, Alex plows through his books in a speed better than the boats engines can perform, Michael checks the sails every minute (even if there is nothing to check) only disrupted by his cigar and espresso (sans a little glass of something), Hans tries to get some sleep (outdoors if possible) but is instantly awake when Noam fries bacon, Dalit wants to be everywhere – just to realize that making her delicious meals is difficult when helming at the same time....And the skipper: always “en route” in repair or cleaning missions: yes Noam we shall do our upmost to keep the deck in order!
We currently have a €10 on-board sweepstake as to our arrival time; Noam says 14.00 Tuesday, Hans 16.00, Alex 17.00, Michael 18.30 and Dalit 07.00 on Wednesday. You now know our speed, course is straight down the run-line of 65’ and we won’t dock in the hours of darkness [you can Google sunrise and sunset for Horta]. Please email your answers to us at yachtfortytwo@gmail.com and all will be revealed when we get real internet.